My ongoing theme is always the truth, as I see it, and the exposure of lies, deception and manipulation wherever they exist. I remain firmly convinced that the world can no longer resist its innate urge to unite and co-operate with one another and we are very close to the point where war can no longer be an option if this transformation is to occur. Website: allenroland.com Email: allen@allenroland.com

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Party’s over for America, the greed bubble fueled by excessive debt has finally burst. Its time to clean up the mess started by the Bush/Cheney administration, perpetuated by the Obama/Biden administration and which is now a deserted ballroom ~ strewn with broken dreams, broken promises and economic devastation: Allen L Roland

As 2011 crawls to a close, the true reckoning of the financial devastation wrought by the policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations and perpetuated by the Obama administration have yet to be fully revealed ~ but the economic devastation by these political actions and inaction is now fully felt and experienced by millions of Americans.

Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair, brilliantly summarized this devastation on December 25, 2011 ~ “It has now been almost five years since the bursting of the housing bubble, and four years since the onset of the recession. There are 6.6 million fewer jobs in the United States than there were four years ago. Some 23 million Americans who would like to work full-time cannot get a job. Almost half of those who are unemployed have been unemployed long-term. Wages are falling-the real income of a typical American household is now below the level it was in 1997... The Bush and Obama administrations justified a bailout on the grounds that only if the banks were handed money without limit-and without conditions-could the economy recover….The banks got their bailout. Some of the money went to bonuses. Little of it went to lending. And the economy didn't really recover ~ output is barely greater than it was before the crisis, and the job situation is bleak. The diagnosis of our condition and the prescription that followed from it were incorrect … In the end, bank managers looked out for themselves and did what they are accustomed to doing..“Read full article ~ http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/9092-the-book-of-jobs

Stiglitz correctly makes this important point ~ “The fact is the economy in the years before the current crisis was fundamentally weak, with the bubble, and the unsustainable consumption to which it gave rise, acting as life support. Without these, unemployment would have been high. It was absurd to think that fixing the banking system could by itself restore the economy to health. Bringing the economy back to "where it was" does nothing to address the underlying problems.”

And therein lies my point ~ for re-inflating the same debt bubble that eventually burst in 2008 is not going to succeed when personal debt and unemployment are at such historic heights and real income is below the level it was in 1997. In other words, the financial elite are telling people to keep spending, keep borrowing by using your credit cards, keep the mirage of financial stability in tact, keep wishful thinking and, by all means, keep the debt party going ~ even thoughthe economic dance hall is in shambles.

Here are the facts ~ 42% of all financial wealth is controlled by the top 1% in that 400 Americans have more money than the other 155 million Americans. Add to that, the fact that the billionaire Banksters, who wrecked the economic well-being of millions for pure profit, have apparently got off scot-free. Is it any wonder that a growing nonviolent Occupy movement has risen to decry those acts of greed as unjust, immoral and undemocratic.

It’s all a blatant illusion, folks ~ and as far as the Obama administration is concerned, the ballroom is still operating, it’s only intermission and the music will resume at any moment. Just keep drinking my oratory Kool Aid, and re-elect me next year and then I’ll deliver on the many promises I never fulfilled because of the evil obstructionist Republicans (chuckle).

In other words, I’m your known political betrayer of your moral values and the constitution (which I swore to defend), so why replace me with an unknown betrayer of those same values and the constitution?

It’s all a big lie ~ Everything is rigged to give the illusion that things are fine; Illegal occupations are glorified as wars; Body counts are falsified ~ only those killed on the battlefield are listed as KIA ~ if you died from your wounds while in transit to care or in care, you are not listed as KIA ( Courtesy of Bush/Cheney ); Unemployment figures are falsified where large numbers of workers have supposedly left the labor force and they are not counted as unemployed; The core cost of living index does not include food and energy costs (thanks to Bill Clinton) ~ thus distorting the true inflation figures and robbing seniors of needed social security income; the stock market is rigged ( think plunge protection team ) whereas unregulated high speed trading as well as derivatives give the false impression of stability in a highly leveraged crap game fierce with insider trading.Regarding the still unresolved mountain of Derivatives ~ “Contrary to popular belief, which blames the global financial crisis on subprime borrowers, it was the derivatives, based upon the likelihood that those borrowers would pay their debts, that were the primary catalyst triggering the global economic crisis of 2008. Back then, the derivative obligations of AIG (AIG) imploded the insurer. Under the pressure of fear-mongering from the Federal Reserve and the financial industry, the U.S. government committed hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out AIG's counter-parties, including the biggest banks of Europe and America. Had the government not stepped in, virtually all the banks on Wall Street would have gone bankrupt. A host of European and Asian banks would have followed……Even if we net out the notional value of the derivatives involved, down to the net potential obligation, the amount is so large that the United States could not hope to pay it off without a major dollar devaluation…..” See story ~ http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-bank-of-america-dumps-75-trillion-in-derivatives-on-u-s-taxpayers-with-federal-approval

The name of the game is to maintain the status quo and Obama was chosen by the global financial elite to do that very thing ~ and it is one of the few promises that he has kept.Meanwhile, almost 50% of Americans are in poverty or at a "low income" level ~ a claim based on a report by the Census Bureau that includes health care, transportation, and other essential living expenses in the poverty calculation.

The party’s over, the Bubble has burst , there’s no music and no one reveals this truth more knowingly than Gerald Celente ~ In his latest interview Celente discusses a variety of different topics ~ from Iran and Europe to domestic militarization and the economy ~ and warns that our worst fears will soon be realized.

“ Bottom line? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet ~ This (National Defense Authorization Act) passed the Senate by 93-7. I’m mentioning this because all the pieces are in place now; The economy is going to crash. There is going to be chaos. Economic martial law will be called. Banks will close. And, chaos will ensure. The law is now in place for the military to come in and take over. Fascism has come to America.”

Meanwhile, the slow beat of corporate fascism continues on ~ While on Christmas vacation in Hawaii, Obama tapped Jerome Powell to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.Powel served as the undersecretary for finance under president George H. W. Bush and was a partner of The Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group is a massive private equity firm and one of the largest defense contractors in the world. See story ~ http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1556/379/NL/

There is a solution and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has offered it as a Constitutional Amendment to the Constitution to exclude corporations from First Amendment rights to spend money on political campaigns. The Sanders amendment is co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), and a similar amendment has been proposed in the House by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.).

Watch and listen to one of our true constitutional patriots make his impassioned case that Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights; that corporations are subject to regulations by the people; that corporations cannot make campaign contributions and that Congress and the states have the right to regulate campaign finance. 12 minute videohttp://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29930.htm#.TuRfMsr974w.email

“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.” Robert F. Kennedy

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Six Vietnam combat veterans, all Pacific Islanders with major issues with racial discrimination as well as PTSD, went through their fears, opened their hearts and found not only themselves ~ but another heart felt choice of behavior and began to heal themselves in only eight weeks: Allen L Roland

Love alone is capable of uniting living beings is such a way as to complete and fulfill them for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest within themselves: Teilhard de Chardin

The ultimate fire fight is on the battleground of the heart for it is there that we meet our deepest fears and issues of unworthiness. Combat veterans are often bonded in combat whereas the loss of their buddies is just as traumatic as the loss of a family member. A heart centered approach to PTSD often re-opens their closed hearts and accelerates the self healing process ~ but when military racial discrimination issues added to the equation, the path to self healing is even more challenging.

Such was the case with Band of Brothers #8 ~ all Hawaiian, Pilipino, Korean, or Korean/American Vietnam Combat veterans and all with PTSD as well as deep unresolved issues of race-related trauma in Vietnam. These issues included ostracism, degradation, and abandonment from their “white” counterparts in Vietnam for “looking like the enemy”. Their deep seeded racial discrimination fears even included the fear of being shot at or killed by their fellow soldiers.

Anger and rage was a common issue for them but so was trust and forgiveness ~ and they all had issues of unworthiness. But they also had something else ~a deep sense of connectedness to not only their culture and nature but also a rare strong sense of family values and social responsibility.

The first meeting of the Healing The Wounded Heart Veterans Workshop #8 washeld on October 14, 2011 at 11 AM in Vallejo, California.

They had never met me but they had been told about me, by their adjustment counselor Sal, and were prepared for an eight week commitment to face their fears and open their hearts in the process. They knew I was a former active duty Naval aviator and that made a big difference.

We met once a week for approximately three hours. All of them had some symptoms of PTSD and even TBI but all had the common symptom of a closed heart and the inability to love and receive love ~ mainly because of deep unworthiness issues that originally started in childhood and were reinforced through their military experience.

I told them that this was an action based heart centered transformation workshop and if they did their homework they would reach a place of not only another choice but would open their closed hearts in the process. They would also begin to see through different eyes ~ eyes unclouded by fear, anger and unworthiness. I also explained through my Cycle Of Life chart how psychic pain will override Joy to the extent that most people have no idea that beneath their deepest pain and aloneness is love, joy and connectedness ~ aUnified Fieldof love, joy and soul consciousness.

After each session ~ part of their homework was to read each session in my book RADICAL THERAPY / SURRENDER TO LOVE AND HEAL YOURSELF IN SEVEN SESSIONS ( NOT SEVEN YEARS )which reinforced the previous group session. I also told them that these sessions were all about transformation and that these action based sessions could well bring up painful memories ~ but that beneath that deep pain was as even deeper thread of love, joy and innocence ~ which all of them had experienced at one time in their childhood.

Of course, that first session I shared my own heart's journey to find a lost and alone little boy within myself who not only wanted to fly, and became a Navy Fighter pilot, but also to love as deeply as I loved my beloved grandfather before I was torn away from him at six years old. They all mentionedthe warand its effect and all of them briefly shared their heart's journey and by the end of three hours ~ they began to feel a sense of commonality. Their homework was to produce a life chart of the path of their individual heart's journey ~ which they would share with the group over the next two sessions. The objective of the life chart is for the participant to see their life as a quest, versus a struggle, to find their authentic innocent self and how every love relationship, including the war, has played a role in that quest.

I told them that I was their coach, not therapist, and that they had free access to me by telephone or email at any time ~ which all of them took advantage of.

The life chart is something like a crime scene where something happened and someone was lost in childhood. In essence, I help them connect the dots to help them find where they separated from their original innocent state of being, when they made the decision to be something other than themselves and how their whole life has been an inner QUEST, not a struggle, to find and fully experience their authentic self again. I also help them see how all of their love relationships, regardless of the pain that may have ensued, have been gifts on that quest as they most certainly have been in my life. Sharing their individual life charts, with my guidance, in front of the entire groupnot only established commonality butwas a major step in coming out of their self imposed cocoons of fear as well as the important realization that it was safe and exciting to be honest, real and authentic. The life charts set the stage for the exercises and transformation that would occur later in the sessions.

I’ll let their post workshop evaluations tell the story of their eight week inner journey through fear to love, self acceptance and joy;

1.Please tell us if and how the workshop has been helpful to you?

E.S. I am free!

M.L. I surrendered and never thought that was possible!

A.R. It helped me open my heart to those that I love dearly. It helped me overcome my fears ~ particularly my fear of rejection.

L.L. It has given me a better understandingof myself and what I did to my life and self.

F.B. It helped me release the pain, fear, anger and depression that were so much of my life.

M.N. I learned to love rather than hate.

2.What personal changes have you overcome from this workshop?

E.S. I ended my negative thinking.

M.L. I overcame fear, knowing I cannot control others and I feel better about myself ~ I love me!

A.R. My fear of rejection has gone and my fear of totally surrendering to love.

L.L. I’m less fearful, I am fully experiencing joy and I have fully opened my heart.

F.B. I have learned to love and forgive.

M.N. I can now feel being loved and to love. I found that fear is only an illusion and I learned to love myself.

This was a transformational event for all the participants or as Alex wrote ~ This is one of the best workshops I’ve ever attended ~ a Life changer!

Once they complete this workshop they are now much more inclined to participate in the other venues of the Vet Center’s heart centered approach which includes Healing Touch, Meditation and Tai Chi.

In Summary, all of them were once stuck in the grey zone of anger, pain and unworthiness as well as the trauma of racial discrimination but now a heart centered light has gone on within each one of them. As such, they can now begin to clearly see the path to their full recovery. In essence, by opening their hearts they all finally met themselves ~ which reminds me of Derek Wolcott’s wonderful poem about the significance of that auspicious and joyful reunion, Love After Love;

The time will comewhen, with elation,you will greet yourself arrivingat your own door, in your own mirror,and each will smile at the other's welcome,and say, sit here, Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life ~ whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes ~ peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit, Feast on your life

And feast on their life, they are ~ For they have all, in their own ways, gone to the edge and found themselves and each other in the process. They are now a true Band of Brothers as well as a gift to each other and movingly acknowledged that in their final session. They all survived the ultimate fire fight on the battle ground of the heart by opening their hearts, surrendering to love and defeating fear in the process.

These workshops are funded by Legion Posts, Veterans Organizations and Veterans foundations but the VA has yet to official sanction alternative health care even though General Peter Chiarelli, the Army's No. 2 officer, has acknowledged there are more effective ways to treat PTSD than just drugs ~ a fact that I have been proving for over two years with my heart centered Healing The Wounded Heart workshops for veterans with PTSD. See http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/07/05/armys-top-brass-acknowledge-need-alternative-ptsd-vet-care/

And the biggest gift I have given them was just being my irrepressible self, not being afraid of their pain and lovingly acknowledging their individual quests to reach that same promised land within themselves. This is, without a doubt, the most powerful and rewarding work I have done in over 35 years of private practice. Seeing the light go on within combat veterans, who were taught to kill, is an unforgettable and heart warming experience.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." Albert Schweitzer

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Sunday, December 18, 2011

In this image from APTN video an Iraqi journalist throws his shoes at US President George W. Bush, while screaming “This is your farewell, you dog” during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, in Baghdad, Iraq.

It was just three years ago that Iraq journalist Muntadhar Al-Zaidi rightfully threw his shoes at George W Bush as a gesture of utter contempt for trying to justify an illegal attack and occupation of his country at the expense of millions of lives ~ and electrified the world in the process. There are no heads held high, as Obama claims, pursuant to our misadventure in Iraq but instead constant denial of the deep guilt and shame regarding the unnecessary, cruel and murderous havoc we have wrought on this sovereign country: Allen L Roland

FALLUJAH, Iraq ~ Hundreds of Iraqis set alight U.S. and Israeli flags on Wednesday as they celebrated the impending pullout of American forces from the country in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah. Shouting slogans in support of the “resistance,” the demonstrators held up banners and placards inscribed with phrases like, “Now we are free” and “Fallujah is the flame of the resistance.”

In Iraq, they are rightfully considered freedom fighters against the American occupying force of 9 years as the Obama administration attempts to spin an obvious defeat of historic proportions into peace with honor ~ think Vietnam.

As an online commentator and columnist and in the spirit of Iraqi shoe thrower Muntadhar Al-Zaidi, I am throwing both my shoes today at President Barack Obama for continuing to rationalize the Bush/Cheney lie regarding our illegal attack and occupation of Iraq ~ and attempting to airbrush an obvious defeat of our imperialistic Neocon agenda in Iraq with words like “honor “ and “Sacrifice “.

Last Thursday in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Mr. Obama said the US military was leaving Iraq with "heads held high", and thanked military families for sharing in the troops' sacrifice. In essence, President Barack Obama used his speech to US troops to embrace the nine-year occupation of Iraq, that he had originally opposed and declared dumb, and to declare the blatant destruction of the country a “success. Nearly 1.5 million Americans served in Iraq, with 30,000 wounded and nearly 4,500 dead, Mr. Obama said, but "those numbers don't tell the whole story of Iraq".

So here’s the whole story, along with both of my shoes, Mr. Obama ~

1.Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq 1,455,590

2.Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq: 4,801www.icasualties.org/oif/

3.Number of U.S. Military Personnel wounded in Iraq : 54,834

4.Number of Iraq war widows 750,000

5.Number of orphaned Iraqi children: One million

6.Number of Iraqis displaced from their country: 4.5 Million

7.Number of Iraqi prisoners in American jails in Iraq: 50,000

8.Number of war handicapped persons in Iraq : 60,000

9.Number of unemployed in Iraq : 30% +

10. Iraq is rated the fourth most-corrupt country in the world according to the watchdog group Transparency International.

It is obvious that the illegal war and occupation of Iraq was intended to show the extent of America’s power (remember Shock and Awe) but instead it only succeeded in showing the limitsof American Imperialism as well as its self defeating role as a hated global bully.

And now we have fresh evidence of U.S. Iraqi atrocities, revealed yesterday by the New York Times, in transcripts of military interviews from the investigation into the Haditha massacre of 2005 ~ which were found at a trailer in a junkyard in Baghdad, which specializes in selling trailers and office supplies left over from American military base closings. http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/308-12/8918-documents-reveal-us-massacre-in-haditha-iraq

Excerpt:"The documents ~ many marked secret ~ form part of the military's internal investigation, and confirm much of what happened at Haditha, a Euphrates River town where Marines killed 24 Iraqis, including a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair, women and children, some just toddlers."

A rhetorical question for which you already know the answer ~ the Military Industrial Complex and the military contractors (mercenaries) who made and are still making millions if not billions of dollars on this illegal war and occupation and they will most certainly remain in Iraq to protect their blood stained interests. They are the vultures who feed on the victims of our rapacious greed and imperialistic adventures ~ as well as financially line the pockets of our elected political leaders and President.

So, on the third anniversary of Muntadhar Al-Zaidi’s shoeing of George W Bush ~ which I consider the inspirational start of the worldwide Occupy Protest movement ~ let’s review with Paul Jay, senior editor of the Real News Network, the events of that day as experienced by Al-Zaidi himself in a 7 minute video interview from Beirut. Al-Zaidi fully explains why he did it and how“I expected to be killed the day I threw my shoes at Bush.”

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Followers

About Me

I'm a disabled active duty Navy veteran who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, survived a dysfunctional family, pursued and lived my dreams, including being a Navy carrier fighter pilot. I found myself by fully opening my heart, wrote three books, sired four children and I'm still living my ultimate dream by making a difference from a place of celebration and service. My 1998 PhD dissertation on the UNIFIED FIELD was chosen by Noetic Science and Common Boundary as one of the top three world finalists on combining psychology and spirituality. I retired from my private practice in 2014, because of my service connected asbestosis related lung disease, and live in Antioch, California but still remain involved as a featured columnist on Veterans Today and heart centered spiritual consultant and advisor ~ particularly with combat veterans with PTSD as well as others with PTHD ( Post Traumatic Heart Disorder).